Press access to Venezuelan ministry representatives has been restricted. The Venezuelan Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC in Spanish) told the newspaper TalCual that they would no longer be able to speak to representatives following the publication of a report detailing problems with the Metro system in the capital, Caracas. The Press and Society Institute has criticised the Ministry’s decision, stating that it is against the Venezuelan constitution “which guarantees the right to access of public information in Article 28″. In 2010, TalCual was closed by the government following their publication of a satirical editorial describing an imaginary Venezuela without President Hugo Chávez.

Index on Censorship magazine

Don’t miss the spring issue of Index on Censorship magazine. Post Charlie Hebdo our commentators take a global view at how threats are being used to stop writers and artists, with Ariel Dorfman, David Edgar, Father Ted’s Arthur Mathews, Turkish novelist Elif Shafak and others. Also, major general Tim Cross and internet guru Martha Lane Fox go head to head on national security versus privacy, and Ismail Einashe on the perils of escaping from Eritrea.